Halloween is a festive time for children because they have an opportunity to receive candy and dress up in costumes when trick-or-treating. In addition to wearing costumres, the children can further enliven their spooky fantasies by carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns and putting up paper posters depicting ghosts and goblins around their homes. In spite of the joyous mood of this time of year, there are safety concerns of which most parents, if not all people, are aware. For one, after carving pumpkins into scary or funny faces, most people add to the aura of the jack-o-lanterns by inserting candles inside of the pumpkins. The potential hazard of inserting candles and dealing with fire is that the fire may become uncontrollable during an accident. This could result in damage to homes or other objects and injury or, worse yet, death to people. Hence, there is a need in the art for a device that lights a carved pumpkin without the dangers of using candles.
Another danger involves children traveling in various neighborhoods and from house to house to trick-or-treat in search of candies, chocolates and other xe2x80x9cgoodies.xe2x80x9d Often parents accompany their children on these expeditions to ensure the latters"" safety. Since most children go trick-or-treating at night, the ability of drivers and other pedestrians to see the children depends invariably on the lighting available on sidewalks and road sides. To overcome the dark of night, some trick-or-treaters bring flashlights on Halloween night. However, for children to carry both a bag of candy and a flashlight may be impractical and cumbersome. As a result, there is also a need in the art for a device that provide a source of light to protect children, to not hinder their trick-or-treating experience, and to make sure that they are visible to other trick-or-treaters, drivers and other pedestrians.
The instant invention comprises a novel combination lighting device 10 that may be securely inserted inside a carved pumpkin 11, used as a necklace 38 and secured onto an article of clothing 13. The disclosed invention alleviates the shortcomings of existing devices in that it replaces the use of unsafe candles to light carved pumpkins 11 and provides a convenient safetly light for children, and other individuals, who are travelling on foot or on bicycles during the night or when trick-or-treating.
One embodiment of the present invention comprises a front housing 12 having a top edge 26, a bottom edge 28, an outer side 30 and an inner side 32. The front housing 12 is translucent, oranged-colored, and shaped like a pumpkin 11 with a jack-o-lantern face 31 on the outer side 30 thereof. A stem portion 14 having a horizontal aperture 34 is attached on the top edge 26 of the front housing 12. This aperture 34 allows a piece of string 36 to pass therethrough so that a necklace 38 may be formed.
A back panel 16 sized to fit inside the front housing 12 has an inner side 40 and an outer side 42, whereby the inner side 40 faces the inner side 32 of the front housing 12 when removably engaged thereto. Attached to the inner side 40 of the back panel 16 comprises a lighting means 18 that emits light through the front housing 12, a powering means 20 that provides power to the lighting means 18, and an activating means 22 that activates the lighting means 18. Conversely, attached to the outer side 42 of the back panel 16 comprises a securing means 24 that removably secures the lighting device 10 optionally either inside of the carved pumpkin 11 or onto the article of clothing 13.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to teach a novel combination lighting device that may be used for many purposes during nighttime.
Another object of this invention is to teach a combination lighting device that may be used safely during Halloween for multiple purposes.
It is also an object of the instant invention is to teach a combination lighting device that may be used as a safe alternative to candle lighting inside of carved pumpkins.
A further object of the disclosed invention is to teach a combination lighting device that may be worn as a necklace when trick-or-treating.
It is another object of the instant invention to teach a combination lighting device that may be worn on one""s clothing when trick-or-treating.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and that will form the subject matter of the invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other devices for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the invention be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.